The Striated Prinia is a small (15 cm) bird
with brown upperparts heavily streaked with blackish brown, whitish
underparts with black streaking, and light buff flanks. There is pale
streaking on the crown and mantle, which is more accentuated in the Taiwan
subspecies striata. Otherwise, differences with the adjacent
mainland subspecies are minor. The tail is long and graduated.

The Striated Prinia feeds mainly on insects
such as caterpillars, ants and small beetles. Its song consists of a series
of two to four notes of a buzzy, scraping quality. Males sing from a
prominent perch such as a tall grass stalk or shrub. The call is a sharp
“tchack, tchack”.

The Striated Prinia is a common resident of
Taiwan in open grassy and shrubby areas and old agricultural fields from low
to mid elevations.

References: A Field
Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps); 100 Common Birds of
Taiwan (Wild Bird Society of Taipei); N. J. Collar, “Endemic
subspecies of Taiwan birds—first impressions”, in Birding ASIA, Number 2,
December 2004